A Palestinian boy, wounded in Israeli bombardment on Gaza Strip, cries in a hospital in Deir al-Balah, south of the Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. A Palestinian woman wounded in Israeli bombardment on Gaza Strip is brought to a hospital in Deir al-Balah, south of the Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. Palestinian wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to Al Asa Hospital in Deir el-Balah on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023.
“These people are all terrified, and so am I,” the surgeon said. “But there is no way we’ll evacuate.”. Four trucks in the 20-truck aid convoy were carrying drugs and medical supplies, the World Health Organization said. Aid workers and doctors warned it was not nearly enough to address Gaza’s spiraling humanitarian crisis.
A shortage of surgical supplies forced some staff to use sewing needles to stitch wounds, which Abed said can damage tissue. A shortage of bandages forced medics to wrap clothes around large burns, which he said can cause infections. A shortage of orthopedic implants forced Abed to use screws that don’t fit his patients’ bones. There are not enough antibiotics, so he gives single pills rather than multiple courses to patients suffering terrible bacterial infections.
At Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s biggest, where Abed also worked this week, the intensive care unit runs on generators but most other wards are without power. Air conditioning is a bygone luxury. Abed catches beads of sweat dripping from his patients’ foreheads as he operates.